Monday, September 15, 2008

A day in the life...

The following account is fictional, so far as anybody knows. It is, however. inspired by an interpretation of a story that might be closer to the truth than an outright lie.

6:00 AM, Saturday

Went to bed early last night so I'd have all day to research my report on learning disabilities (probably focusing on ADD).

I have Eric and Google Scholar at my fingertips, so I should be done by noon at the latest.

6:05 AM

Hit the snooze button just one more time. It's Saturday, after all.

7:00 AM

Finally got out of bed when I realized that I hadn't heard my alarm go off for maybe half an hour now. No matter, still have plenty of time.

7:10 AM

Already found several articles that might be worth reading for my report. Also found a mountain of material that reads like it was written by a team of lawyers used to writing End User License Agreements ... after they've all had frontal lobotomies but before their medication has worn off. I need a break - time to check my email.

8:37 AM

Finished checking email. Would have finished faster but my sister sent me a picture of a cat that reminded me of a funy website. Spent far too long looking at pictures of cute fuzzy animals acting like people. Focus! It's time to hit the grindstone again.

9:00 AM

Cat (the skinny one) decided to walk across my keyboard, closing several windows. Realized that this behavior is only funny when seen on the silly website viewed earlier.

9:02 AM

Yelling at animals who don't understand English (or at least don't care) is not productive, in spite of its theraputic qualities.

9:30 AM

Found several more articles that may be worth reading. Decided to narrow it down by weeding out the really long and/or boring ones.

2:00 PM

Woke up to the sound of a cat (the fat one) complaining that her food dish was empty. Apparently I wasn't so good at finding decent articles after all. Wife thought the indentations on my forehead made by my keyboard were very amusing. I found the 587 pages of jibberish typed in my sleep less so.

Break for a late lunch while checking email, then back to the grindstone.

2:30 PM

Scrapped all previously located articles and started from scratch.

2:35 PM

Decided to check my RSS feeds for recent news.

3:00 PM

Finished checking all RSS feeds in my Bloglines account. Refreshed page several times just to make sure I didn't miss any. Went back to work.

4:32 PM

Was very happy with over an hour of uninterrupted productivity involving an ongoing discussion in a favorite online forum ... until I remembered that report.

5:00 PM

Cat (the fat one) decided she wanted more attention. Wouldn't stop tapping me with her paw until I petted her. Began again whenever I stopped, until she noticed the red dot my optical mouse could make on the floor.

Gave up on exercising cat (the fat one) when I realized that "noticing" and "chasing" are not synonyms, particularly when dealing with a cat that's shaped like a lumpy bowling ball.

6:00 PM

Break to make supper.

7:30 PM

Wife's character in World of Warcraft was having difficulty with a quest. Logged into the game to help her out with my level 70 Paladin. Planned to help her quick then get back to work.

10:00 PM

Wife's character on World of Warcraft gained two levels. I also created a new character and got it to level ten before I remembered I had work to do. Oh well, I'll just have to finish that report on ADD tomorrow...